Learning to Weld/Getting comfortable with your weld

[Howienewsome]

I have a question concerning the welding process..

Is there anyone that started off as a complete novice welder? and at what point were you comfortable with your welds to let them go on the airframe? How will you know when theyre good enough to go on the airframe?

Dan Murphy
Cary, IL
Fixin to buy my plans

[KyBearhawk]

I was a complete novice short of a high school ag class 20 years earlier. I am gas welding everything as I am not going to pay a bunch of money for a tig welder. My welds looked bad when I first started but after a couple of days I was getting the hang of it. Even the bad welds were strong though they just did not look pretty. I think with gas it is harder to get a pretty weld though. As for TIG welding I can not speak anything about but it looks way more complicated and from my understanding you still have to post heat the weld and let it cool off with a gas torch. You can just tell after some practice when the metal bonds together and becomes one. At that point it is way strong enough to use on the airframe.

[mswain]

I had never welded prior to beginning my build. I took a 6 week summer class in TIG at the local community college before starting. In hindsight, it was a well spent $250. I think I consumed at least that much money in Argon and filler rod I bought a scrap box of 4130 tubing from Spruce for $25 and spent a few hours every night at home practicing (i bought a TIG machine after class).
There came a point when I was comfortable enough with my welds to begin actually building parts. The wing steel parts were the first items I fabricated.

I also ended up building my main and aux fuel tanks myself, but welding the .050 Aluminum is a whole different ballgame than steel.

Out of any skill I have learned in my life, welding ranks right up near the top! I love it. Going the TIG route allows me to work with about any material I will likely come across.

[jaredyates]

I felt confident for most steel welds after my first tank refill. I used the scrap box from ACS, but not until I had also practiced with lots of mild steel. I started with flat plates and little pieces, and also made a hangar door out of square tube. There are still some complicated things that I might need help with, and for those I an fortunate to have a local friend who has much more experience.

[sjt]

I took the sportair workshop taught by Earl Luce. I did a write up for my local EAA chapter. The article is in the June 14 issue of the newsletter :

http://www.958.eaachapter.org/Newsletters/2014/0614.pdf

I list a couple of things to buy if you choose to go with

oxyacetylene welding

. The sport air workshops are listed on the EAA.org site.

[bestbearhawk1231]

I bought a couple books to read so I would have some clue what I was doing, bought the Smith HVAC porta torch kit, some of the smaller size welding tips, some RG-45 rod and a 2x4 foot sheet of 18 guage sheetmetal. I cut the sheet into 2x6 inch pieces and went to town. I had minimal MIG experience (self taught) at the time and wanted a "real" torch so I could cut steel (meco midget doesn't offer a cutting head and Victor or Harris isn't real popular around here unless you are using a medium duty or larger) with intentions of learning to weld tubing...it was how I justified the purchase before I was committed to building a plane. I practiced running a bead without filler until I was comfortable and was not blowing holes through it then started running beads with the rod until I had that down. Then I moved on to butt welds, T welds, edge welds...eventually leading up to tubing. The 4130 practice kits that Wicks or ACS sells are priceless although some are better than others, luck of the draw. By the time I was to that point, I was using the torch for welding sheetmetal more than my MIG and was confident. You will know when you are ready. The more practice time you get, the better you will be. When you are learning the basics I would recommend mild steel and the "house" brand filler rod due to the price difference and the fact that you will mangle a lot of steel. As you go, get a pound of RG45, RG60, and ER70S2 (tig rod) and see what works best for your style of welding. I have found that the tig rod has a tendency to spark more and doesn't seem to flow as nicely as the gas rod. After I had saved up enough cash I bought larger tanks for my rig. Tank sizes are a personal preference but my set up is a K size oxygen and a #4 acetylene...I was doing a lot of cutting at the time. They are big and heavy but they last forever with a little torch. Kent White (TM Technologies) has a video called 4130 chromemoly airframe construction that is pretty good. It is on 2 disks and round 4 hours long...there are parts that drag on for what seems like forever but has a lot of good information. It really helped me out when I was having trouble getting the rod to work right and not stick.

You can mangle alot of steel and burn a lot of gas for the price of a sport air workshop weekend...nothing against them but just throwing that out there. If you can get to Oshkosh or Sun and fun, take the gas welding class. It is included with the daily fee. Also, work on little projects as you go to help build your confidence. Things like a welding cart, grinder stands, vice stands...the list goes on.

Don't discount gas welding. TIG maybe fancier and sound cooler to your friends but a gas torch will weld just about everything a tig will with the right flux and you can be set up with quality equipment that will last a lifetime for $600 bucks...roughly half the price of a cheaper tig setup. Once you have a gas set up, you also have a heat source for bending metal and a cutting torch for other items that come up...it is one of those tools that you won't know how you lived with out it once you have one. If you learn on gas, you have already mastered the torch/rod movements and heat control so moving to a tig is relatively painless.

I agree with Mswain regarding aluminum, whole different ballgame but after the half day class at Oshkosh this year I was confident enough to order flux and a lens to cut through the flux flare. I managed to run a bead on the first attempt. Half the battle is knowing what to look for.

Hope this helps a bit,
Joe

[bestbearhawk1231]

I started learning to weld about the time I bought the plans. I break it out once every month or two to practice after I got decent with it. If you start on the wings and scratch build them, you will have a couple years to practice before you will need to weld the wing bits...well unless you are desert bearhawk anyway...

[sbmurphey]

I have really enjoyed this thread as i am currently working to develop the skill of gas welding my self. I have tried to use 3 foot of filler rod per night over the last month and as you can see from my initial photos, I started from scratch. The second photo was about two weeks ago and the final picture is from tonight practice. Critiques are welcome on the last photo.

I think I am about ready to try some thinner material for lap and T joints. Then I plan to start practicing with some chrome molly tubing/plate.

For those just starting, keep practicing. Last Friday, things kind of clicked and I could see a dramatic improvement.

Thanks all,

[alaskabearhawk]

This may or may not help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEA-...s8q-A&index=27